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DigitalTransformation: An idea for modular pre-fab construction company

I had posted (LinkedIn and Twitter) earlier that the construction site hasn’t changed much:

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I also posted …

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Problem:

Construction time has not changed as much in the last century.

Solution.

Create a digital technology company (not a construction one) to with target of reducing the construction (of residential building, malls and hotels) time by 10x . That said, over next 3-5 years, the following seems to be a practical target

  • 30-40% savings on the project cost

  • 25-30% savings on project time

  • 50-75% reduction in on-site workers

How to do it?

  • Digital design:

    • Saving up to 50-75% design time than the traditional approaches

    • 3D/4D5D BIM: Cross-functional integration of different project facets

      • 3D BIM Drawings

      • 4D BIM (= 3D BIM + Project timelines): Also, provides individual responsibilities. This facilities real time communication for variances

      • 5D BIM (= 4D + Cost): Also, visibility on cost including impact of the project overruns or any variances on other aspects.

  • Pre-fabricated:

    • Off-site manufacturing to help developers and general contractors create projects (residential, hotel, malls etc.) more quickly and with less expense

    • A robotics driven manufacturing plant based on the modular designs

    • Manufacture panels, trusses, decking, connectors etc.

  • On-site Structural assembly:

    • Building blocks and modules for a given project are staged at the plant

    • Logistics team, with the help of process automation transport those parts needed at each stage on site

    • The process automation allows just-in-time delivery

    • Significantly less number of on-site workers needed.

    • Digitally tag each component for reducing uncertainty

    • Given a better job profile, you will be able to attract better quality of workers, you will be able to train them much better and also will be able to take much better safety precautions at the site.

    • Less carbon footprint

Fullstack Modular

461 Dean in Brooklyn, New York, US became the world's tallest modular building in 2016. It’s designed by designed by New York architecture firm SHoP, developed by Forest City and the module building blocks were produced by the Skanska in its factory .Brooklyn residential tower consists of 363 pre-fab apartments that stack like Tetris blocks into a 32-story building. It's an impressive architectural feat, to be sure—but 461 Dean is also an important test of modular design's potential to make cities more affordable.

Forest City had expected that modular technology would allow the company to build high-rises for 70 percent of the cost of a conventional building and finish the tower in 18 months, or about 75 percent of the typical time of construction. But the project overshot by 2 years and on budget. Mainly due to the litigation between the developer (Forest City), and the partner company ( Skanska) that provided modular building blocks.

Later, Forest City is exited the pre fab business and selling the factory to Fullstack Modular - a startup ($6 minion funding so far) started by one of it’s former employees. Modular construction translates into less time and fewer workers on a construction site because 80% to 90% of the building can be finished in the factory, said Roger Krulak, chief executive of Full Stack Modular LLC, which bought the core assets of Forest City’s modular manufacturing company.

FullStack Modular is to be a modular construction elder in the Design, Manufacture, And Construction Of Mid- And High-Rise Modular Buildings In Urban Environments.